The Dementor’s Kiss
by MayetraWolfking
Summary: The consequences of choice seen through a student of Hogwart’s eyes.


Title: The Dementor's Kiss  
  
Authors: ElfnDwarf (Mayetra and Hedda)  
  
Website: http:torturedscribes.feybles.com  
  
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling. We wrote this story for fun and not for profit.  
  
Special Warnings: Mature Subject Matter  
  
Beta: Kat  
  
Cast: The Students of Hogwarts and other canon characters.  
  
Timeline: AU 5th year  
  
Authors' Note: It's your choice to read this story. It's your choice not to. It's your choice to like it or not to like it. But it's our choice to write it for our own pleasure. Isn't freedom of choice a wonderful thing!  
  
This story was written while listening to _Inama Nushif_ from the _Children of Dune_ soundtrack.  
  
Spoilers: None  
  
Summary: The consequences of choice seen through a student of Hogwart's eyes.  
  
It started innocently enough with an idea to pass the time during the Christmas Holidays. It was meant to be fun. It was meant to be creative. It was never meant to be a controversy. It never should have gone as far as it did.  
  
The Wizarding Crusades was the biggest book for young adults to hit the Magical World in years. Everyone had read it. Everyone loved the characters. Everyone wanted more.  
  
That's when Hermione introduced us to the idea of fan fiction. What a wonderful concept it was! Taking characters we loved on all new adventures. It started out with just a few of us, but when school resumed the phenomenon soon spread. It was a welcome relief from OWLS, NEWTS, and the oppression that dominated our school days.  
  
Soon our bags were filled with scrolls of stories that our friends had given us to read. It got rather difficult to keep track of who had whose story. It was Luna's idea to gather all these tales and publish them in magazine form, so that they would be easier to share.  
  
We called it The Scrolls of Palhava. Palhava was the historian from The Wizarding Crusades. It wasn't long before everyone had a copy of the first issue of the magazine. It didn't matter if you liked adventure, romance or comedy; there were stories to suit anyone's tastes. Some of the more clever writers began to create new characters and write about them along with the old favorites.  
  
I guess that is where the trouble really started.  
  
Not everyone appreciated these new additions. They only wanted to read about the characters from the book. We got a lot of complaints and were asked to stop publishing those stories with new characters, but we didn't. Maybe we should have.  
  
That's when Umbridge got involved. Several of the students complained directly to her after the second issue was released. So a brand new educational decree was issued: Fan Fiction could only be written using canon characters,  
  
Hermione was outraged. Being a clever witch, she had been the first to introduce a new character. Ja'lia was an interesting mix of people. She had Ron's red hair, Harry's green eyes, Ginny's shyness, Luna's eccentricities, Hermione's intelligence and a bit of my clumsiness thrown in for good measure. I can still remember her ranting after reading the notice.  
  
"If they don't like the character they simply shouldn't read the story!"  
  
We all agreed with her of course, perhaps we shouldn't have. Especially after she purposely wrote several stories with Ja'lia for the third issue and like fools we printed them. We thought we were fighting oppression and censorship, but we were really driving the first nail into her coffin.  
  
She got the Howlers the day after the third issue came out. We listened in shocked silence, as she was verbally assaulted. It wasn't enough to flame her character and her stories. They attacked her ability as a writer and said some nasty things about her personally as well.  
  
But Hermione didn't falter and even though she held her head high, we could see that the comments had cut her to the core. I guess it made her more determined to continue writing her stories. Little did we know how her story would end.  
  
The fourth issue brought more Howlers and a month's detention with Umbridge. Hermione's next stories were literally written with her blood, sweat and tears. We don't know how she managed because her hand was a mess. Harry told us about Umbridge's Quill because he knew from first hand experience its painful sting. What madness possessed us to continue this fight?  
  
The fifth issue brought obligatory Howlers but they had lost their bite. Hermione was prepared for another month's detention. I like to think it was enough to prepare her for what actually happened. I like to imagine that there was no fear in her eyes. I know for a fact that when the Aurors came to arrest Hermione she bravely left with them like a true Gryffindor.  
  
Luna's father covered Hermione's trial with the Wizengamot. He sent Luna the transcript so we could read it. Hermione stood alone and gave an eloquent speech in her defense. She told them fan fiction was about being creative and having fun. That it was about letting the author express their ideas, plots and characters. No one was paying her to write these stories. Her payment was the joy she found in penning them. She wasn't forcing anyone to read them. It was their choice to do so. If they didn't like them then it was their choice to stop. No one said they had to continue reading her stories. For every person who hated her stories, someone liked them. Why should the many who liked her stories suffer because of the ones that disliked them?  
  
In the end, she told them it was all about choice and she was right. But, the Wizengamot still condemned her. They sentenced her to the Dementor's Kiss.  
  
A part of us died that day, and Hermione might as well have. Gone is the cleverest witch that Hogwarts has seen in an age. All that remains is an empty shell with sightless eyes and voiceless lips.  
  
The End


End file.
